Happy Labor Day everyone!!

Hope everyone has had a nice Labor Day weekend!  We didn't do much this weekend, just relaxing mostly.  We were at Mysti's on Saturday.  We went with her to Pittsburgh to look at an apartment, then came back and had pizza and enjoyed time with Torsten and Javyen.  Oh, yeah, we also had Black Magic Cake that I made Friday evening.  So I thought I'd post the recipe for it.  If you are worried that your family, etc. won't like the coffee in it, you can't really tell it is there.  I really like this and I'm not a big chocolate cake or coffee lover!! 
If you try this, please post back and let me know what you and those who ate it, thought about it. I refrigerated mine because of the cream cheese frosting and I loved it cold!!

Black Magic Cake

1 3/4 cups flour                2 eggs
2 cups sugar                     1 cup strong black coffee
3/4 cup baking cocoa      1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. baking soda           1/2 cup veg. oil
1 tsp. baking powder      1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt

1. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.
2. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.
3. Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Batter will be thin.
4. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or two 9 inch cake pans.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes for a 9x13, or 30-35 minutes for layer pans
6. Cool and frost as desired.  I frosted mine with cream cheese frosting, but you can use what ever frosting you wish.
 

Here is a pic of my grandson, Torsten feeding his new baby brother, Javyen!! It was taken when Javyen was 3 days old.

 

 

Here is Javyen at 2 1/2 weeks old.  He has gained almost 2lbs. already!! 


 

Another Zucchini recipe.....

Hi Everyone!!  Yesterday we celebrated Helen, my oldest sister's 79th birthday at a little party at the home of her son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Val's, home.  Her actual birthday was on July15th.  I made Meatballs in Spaghetti sauce and Italian bread.  After I started these two things, I started thinking about the huge zucchini that was setting in my fridge.  So I pulled up a recipe I had found the day before for a warm apple cake with a warm caramel glaze and did my quirky little thing I like to do with some recipes and transformed it into Zucchini Cake with Penuche Frosting.  So long story short I made it and it was an instant hit at the party!!  So I thought I'd share my recipe with you all.  If you try, it let me know what you thought of it!!  By the way, did any of you try the recipe I posted for Zucchini Cobbler?  If you did, I'd like to hear your comments on it too!  So here it is:

Zucchini Cake
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon or apple pie spice, I used the apple pie spice
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
3 c. zucchini,  grated
1/3 cup veg. oil


Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together egg, zucchini, oil, and 1/4 cup nuts; add to flour mixture. Spread in a greased 9”x 13” baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick tests clean. Frost with Penuche Frosting and sprinkle with remaining nuts. Serves 15.

Penuche Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar

In a medium saucepan, place margarine and brown sugar over medium heat..  Stir until it comes to a full rolling boil.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in milk and vanilla.  Beat in confectioner's sugar until smooth and thick, I ended up using 4 cups of the sugar because it seemed too thin, you can do this right in the pan, or scrap into a bowl and proceed.  Quickly spread over cake, it starts setting fast.  Let set until frosting is firm.

Good old summertime!!

Wow, it's the 14th of July already!!  We had some really hot humid days last week, in the 90's, but fortunately it has been cooler and less humid this week.  Yesterday there was a party at my brother & sister-in-law's (Sam & Peg) house, their son Keith was home from Florida for a few days and his daughter Alex from PA was there too.  I was trying to think of some food to take.  I had a couple of zucchini that had been given to me and I was looking for a recipe to use them in and I found a recipe for Zucchini Cobbler.  The reviews said it tasted like apples so I thought I'd try it.  I was a hit with most of the people that tried it.  So I thought I'd post the recipe on here, of course this isn't quite the original recipe since I had to make it mine with my little changes here and there, as usual. LOL  Here it is, give it a try, I think you'll like it.  By the way the original recipe made a 10 x 15 inch baking dish, since this kind of an odd size dish, I changed it to fit a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Zucchini Cobbler
Note: To save time, you can prepare  the zucchini and start cooking it, and prepare the crumb mixture while the zucchini is cooking.
Crumb Crust/Topping:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups chilled butter or margarine (2 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  In a large bowl combine flour and brown and white sugars.  Cut in the chilled butter with 2 knives or pastry blender until the mixture is in small crumbs.  Set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.  To the remaining  mixture add the oatmeal and cinnamon.  Press half of this mixture into the greased baking dish forming the crust..  Make the filling.  Pour it onto the crust.  Top with the remaining crumb mixture.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden.  Serve warm or chilled.

Filling:
7 cups peeled, seeded, thinly sliced zucchini
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. apple pie spice (or 3/4 tsp. cinnamon plus 1/4 tsp. nutmeg)

In a large pan or skillet over medium heat, cook zucchini in lemon juice until zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the brown and white sugars and apple pie spice ( or cinnamon and nutmeg). Cook another minute or two. Stir in the reserved 1/2 cup of crumb mixture. Stir constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat.

The merry merry month of May???

Yes, it is May and I just realized I haven't posted on here since February!!  Sorry, I have been doing so much reading on my Kindle Fire that I haven't done much else.  Torsten (my grandson) and I did make Bunny and Egg shaped sugar cookies to take to Ryan (my son) and McKenzie's (my daughter-in-law) home for Easter.  Here is a pic of Torsten with the Bunny and Egg Cookies.

 Last week when Torsten was here we made cookies for him to take some home to Mommy and Daddy..  I had been on www.allrecipes.com looking at cookie recipes and I got some ideas there and came up with my own recipe for Crunchy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Everyone thought they were really good.  So I thought I'd post the recipe on here.

Crunchy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups Butter, softened
4 Eggs
2 cups packed Brown Sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Cream these ingredients together until fluffy.
Stir together the following ingredients and then add
the the first mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.
1 tsp. Apple pie spice (or just cinnamon), optional
3 1/2 cups Quick cooking Oatmeal
2 cups. Rice Krispies cereal
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 Tbsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1- 12oz. pkg. Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup or more ( Heath Bar) English Toffee Bits ( or Heath Bars, crushed), optional

Drop dough onto greased baking sheets by tablespoonfuls.  Lightly flatten the dough.  Bake at 350°
for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom and edges are just beginning to brown.
Remove to wire racks to cool.
Yields around 7 dozen cookies.

Note:  If you prefer you can use 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  Also if you like you can add more chocolate chips as these do not contain a lot of chips per cookie.

February already??.... and Super Bowl Sunday...

It hardly seems possible that we've already passed though January and into February...  time flies....
This Sunday is the Super Bowl...  boooo, if the Steelers aren't playing then it's not very much fun.  But some people will still be having Super Bowl get togethers anyway.  So if you're looking for something different to make this Sunday I have a recipe for you...  If you love Reuben Sandwiches then you will  love these Reuben Bites.... serve them up with some Thousand Island Dressing for dipping.... yummmm!!   If you try this, please, let me know how it turned out and if you liked it.  Also if you'd like to share any of your Super Bowl snacks, please feel free to post them.... 

Deep-Fried Reuben Bites & Deep-Frying Batter

Serves: 24
Reuben Bites
1/2 cup sauerkraut, well drained
1 cup corned beef . finely chopped
3/4 cup Swiss cheese, finely shredded
1 egg
5 1/2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs, rye is preferred
Flour
Thousand island salad dressing, for dipping
Veg. oil for deep frying

Batter for Frying:
1 cup flour
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

In a small bowl combine Bites ingredients well.  Form into small 1 inch balls. In a medium bowl, whisk together batter ingredients until smooth. Roll the balls in flour and then dip into batter.   Heat oil (at least 2 inches deep) in deep fryer or dutch oven to 350°.   Deep fry until golden.  Serve with Thousand Isle dressing.
You can keep them warm on a warming tray, in the oven wrap in foil or in a Crock Pot on low.
This batter can also be used for all kinds of deep fried foods, like onion rings, cauliflower, etc.

Hello 2012...

Well, we are 17 days into 2012 and so far, we've had very little snow!!  In fact it is 48 degrees outside and it is raining.  Although I just saw the weather forecast for the next few days and they are calling for the rain turning to snow with possibly an inch or two of snow over the next couple days, but by the weekend the temperatures may be back in the forty's.  Who knows what we will actually have, the weather forecasts change so much.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's!!  I know we did.

I was trying to think of a recipe to put on here and finally decided on the German Apple Pie.  It is a one crust pie, but doesn't have a crumb topping like a Dutch Apple Pie.  Instead the apples are layered with a cinnamon/sugar/flour mixture and then heavy whipping cream is poured over it before baking.  I prefer to eat it warm with a dollop of whipped cream on top.  Either plain or with whipped cream it is so yummy.  I hope you will try it.  I'd love to hear some comments back on any recipes that you try from my blog. 

German Apple Pie

1 9 inch pie shell, preferably deep dish, unbaked
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 cups sliced peeled baking apples
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
Whipped cream, optional
 Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon; sprinkle 1/4 cup into crust. Top with half of the apples. Sprinkle with half of the remaining sugar mixture. Top with remaining apples and sugar mixture. Pour cream over all.  It is best to set the pie on a baking sheet, lined with parchment or foil as sometime the  cream will bubble over.  Bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake for 45 minutes or until apples are tender.  Cover the crust with foil if it starts browning too much  Cool. Store pie in refrigerator. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

 Note:  Pie can be frozen BEFORE adding the heavy cream.  Wrap securely in plastic wrap or foil and place in a plastic bag.